Maddie May
By Khaleah Holmes in conversation with her grandmother Maddie May
10th Grade
From Chapter 510's publication Past is Present; Heritage Stories from Oakland Youth
Maddie May
As I sit on my grandmother’s dark burgundy red couch, my eyes scan a room full of family pictures and paintings. The painting that sticks out most is the portrait of my beautiful great-grandma. My eyes finally land on her light caramel aged skin, salt and pepper hair, and hazel brown eyes with a hit of gray at the edges. When I look at her I can imagine the different events that led her to where she is now. My great-grandma’s name is Maddie May Perry. She is 93 years old and is originally from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She migrated from Louisiana along with many other African Americans from the south to California during World War II to work on the war ships.
This is the story of Maddie May. This interview took place in the year 2018 and was spoken in her own voice.
I lived in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. I think it’s bout 90 or 100 miles away from New Orleans. Life in Louisiana was real nice. We went to school, to the movies, to dances, and different programs, and when the circus and fairs happened we would have a good time. In Baton Rouge we had parades and dances like they have now. Some of the people that entertained us was…can’t call their name it’s been so long. Loney Hampton was one I liked to hear play, there’s lots of them I liked to hear play. My cousin used to take me and my friend every Saturday to a theater where they had the matinee movies for the young people. The theater was called The Temple Theatre. My older cousin would take me and a couple of friends to this matinee where they give the dances to the younger people on Saturday evening. My cousin’s name was Cilva Miles, she was an older lady, but a very pleasant lady to be with. I still have friends that live in Louisiana, the people I grew up with. My family might have moved away, but then again my older sisters chill’ren still live in Baton Rouge; they still at home. I had one child in Louisiana. I couldn’t take Tyrone to that big o’le shipyard, you have to be careful, even myself I had to be careful.
As far as racism, Louisiana is a southern state and they was pretty prejudiced some of them white people, gave black people a hard time. My father had to work at nights, and when he be coming home a gang of white people called the Ku Klux Klan would pick on him. And Daddy would say he had to runnnn as hard as he could to get home. Cuz he couldn’t fight with all those white people. That how Daddy would get home…running from them white folks. And I had an uncle Ike that would fight with them, if they bother him. We had trouble with the whites, but black people have lived there all their life and didn’t let them white folks bother them. We tried to get along with them, that’s all we could do. And we made it.
I got to California on the train. The train went real good. It brought us from Baton Rouge all the way up to Los Angeles. California was not as segregated, they let black people have a little more freedom. The first thing I noticed was that Los Angeles had some real nice looking people, some pretty girls. I told my cousin Ron, “Those girls really pretty.” When we got to San Francisco the first thing we did was go see the Golden Gate Bridge. I liked it here, my brother Willy Times lived out here.
When I got to San Francisco I had many different jobs. I met my husband in San Francisco, too. He had a job in a shipyard just like I had a job. He was a burner and so was I. We burned the steel to help build the ships. When I worked on the ships I met a lot of people. I still think of my friends. I think of Jessie and her Harry. Harry was her husband. He was in the army, since there was a war going on. I have their picture now in my picture book. I had quite a few different places I worked at. If the job wasn’t going to last long I’d go find me another job. I worked at factories, where they made sweaters. I used to have to work on a press and stretch a sweater to the size it was supposed to be made. I also worked at the the U.S. Mint in plumbing.
Well, my husband got drafted into the Navy. He didn’t mind, he wanted to go to the Navy, he was a Navy man. He had to go so he went on. But I know my brothers they didn’t wanna be in a war. A couple refused to go, a lot of young men didn’t wanna go. After the war they dropped him off in the Navy in Idaho, and so I left San Francisco. We were married in Hailey, Idaho. Ohh I loved Idaho, I stayed bout a year. After that we went back home to San Francisco. My husband didn’t want no chill’ren he wanted us to be traveling. I’m the one who wanted chill’ren. So I had 8 kids. Three chil’ren in San Francisco. After living in San Francisco for a while me and Mr. Perry and the kids moved to a city in California called Fresno. We bought a family home there. I have a total of five sons and three daughters. Fresno is also where I made a lot of lifelong friendships.
My great-grandmother overcame many struggles in her life. She grew up in the South where racism placed a burden on African Americans. At the time my grandmother grew up there were laws called Jim Crow. These laws praised segregation and frowned upon integration, but as time passed things started to change for the better. African Americans started to gain more freedom. My great-grandmother Maddie experienced living in a time when segregation was very real and she would later live through the civil rights movement. During her time, things also dramatically changed in employment. Because men were shipped off to war, women were given jobs traditionally held by men. In addition to being a very strong woman, my great-grandmother is one of the sweetest people I have ever met. She is loved by everyone. She deeply cares about the wellbeing of others, especially her family. I am truly blessed to have heard her story and I hope to hear many more. I would encourage everyone to learn about their lineage.
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“Maddie May” is from Past Is Present which documents the oral histories of 12 MetWest High School students as they learn the migration and immigration stories of their lineage. These brave youth come with burning questions and open ears, ready to record, write, and make visible the unheard stories of their families’ journeys. These pages are filled with resilience and courage, survival and hope, grief and praise.
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Chapter 510 is a made-in-Oakland youth writing & publishing center. Our teaching artists and volunteers work side-by-side with educators to provide a safe space and supportive community for young people ages 6–18 to bravely write.
Our vision is that every young person in Oakland learns to write with confidence and joy.
